Mark Cuban Challenges Charlie Kirk’s Take On Big Pharma, Highlights Role Of PBMs In Drug Price Surge: 'For Your Company…Ask Your PBM For A List Of Claims' - Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY)

Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, challenged Trump-supporter and political activist Charlie Kirk‘s stance on high drug prices, asserting that Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are the main culprits, not Big Pharma.

What Happened: Cuban criticized Kirk’s focus on Big Pharma as the primary driver of high drug prices. Instead, Cuban pointed to PBMs as the major offenders due to their opaque pricing practices and market dominance. Cuban highlighted the lack of transparency in PBMs’ contracts, which often prohibit disclosing pricing details. He challenged Kirk to obtain a net price list from his company’s PBM.

Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, has regularly raised questions on the practices of Big Pharma through his posts and podcasts.

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Cuban’s post aligns with a 2022 FTC investigation into PBMs’ role in rising drug costs through practices like spread pricing. Moreover, according to a 2023 Bipartisan Policy Center, six PBMs control 95% of the private market.

He supports Trump's Executive Order to lower drug prices by 30-80%, suggesting that targeting PBMs, such as separating formularies and mandating claim disclosures, could make brand medications cheaper than in many countries, building on his own efforts with Cost Plus Drugs to cut out middlemen and reduce costs.

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In one of his initial responses, Mark Cuban expressed support for the move, stating it could “force transparency,” even if the President can’t mandate price reductions.

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Why It Matters: Cuban’s comments come in the wake of President Donald Trump‘s announcement of a sweeping executive order aimed at slashing prescription drug prices. The order, which Trump referred to as the “most consequential executive order” in U.S. history, is set to implement a “Most Favored Nations” policy requiring pharmaceutical companies to charge U.S. consumers no more than the lowest price they offer for the same drug in any other country.

Cuban, despite being a Trump critic, has expressed support for Trump’s healthcare order, emphasizing its potential to reform the role of PBMs in the U.S. healthcare system and save billions. He believes that targeting PBMs—such as separating formularies and mandating claim disclosures—could make brand medications cheaper than in many countries.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly LLY, Novo Nordisk NVO, Pfizer PFE and Johnson & Johnson JNJ were trading 2% to 5% lower in Monday’s premarket in response to Trump’s executive order.